Due to economic considerations and convenience, consumer use of automated drying of laundered garments has increased in popularity in recent years. Not surprisingly, consumer use of dryer-activated additive compositions has also been increasing steadily. The popularity of these compositions has risen in part due to consumer desire to impart various properties to fabrics easily and quickly during the laundry process. A wide variety of ingredients have been suggested for use in laundry additive compositions to enhance the appearance and feel of fabrics. Fabric softeners provide both softening and anti-static benefits to fabrics. Perfumes deliver pleasing odors and freshness. Thus, dryer-activated additive products offer convenience, ease of use, and affordable economics to consumers as well as being superior delivery systems for desirable laundry additives such as perfumes and softeners.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,302 issued Feb. 1, 2000 to Leurentop, et al. discloses fabric softening compositions comprising a dye fixing agent and an amino-functional polymer for providing color care benefits to fabrics upon laundry treatments. Dryer-activated fabric softening compositions are disclosed and perfume, preferably protected by a carrier material such as zeolite, is noted as an optional component of these compositions.
European Patent Application No. EP 1 061 124 A1, published Dec. 20, 2000 (Givaudan S A) is directed to a method of preparing a protected fragrance matrix by absorbing the perfume on a solid absorbent. Use of the protected fragrance matrix on fabric softener sheets is also disclosed.